toucan, anything is quite possible, and there are alternatives to the mexican redbud. These below were a little chlorotic the first few years but now they stay pretty green all summer. These were little 5 gallon whiplets in 2008 :) These are on a flood irrigated lot as well.

Naturelover42: I looked up "Western Redbud" and its leaves look exactly like my leaves. I wonder if I got a mislabeled Redbud. I did get it from the Master Gardener Sale out in CA so I think they would label it correctly, but you never know.

Azant: Very nice trees. Do you happen to have pictures of their leaves in the fall and the flowers in the Spring? I'm glad you've shown that those can grow well out here. Too bad I don't have flood irrigation.

On the other hand, aren't we in a drought? I always wonder why some people out here flood their yards, when we are in a desert environment and agriculture needs the water. Of course, I would probably be doing the same if I lived on irrigated property, but I just wonder why that is so.

Yesterday I found this wonderful list of landscape plants kept by a professor at ASU for his landscape students. I LOVE it because it tells you everything you'd want to know about plants, even the diseases they're prone to get.

Click on Trees and then click on Cercis. I've bookmarked this site, it's the most helpful of all lists I've found.

I've been looking at the Mexican Redbuds ... anyone with any experience with them? After spending the last 6 years in Tennessee, spring will definitely be a little duller for me without a redbud or two....

They do fine pagancat, might be a little chlorotic or salt burnt for 2-3 years after planting after that they slowly turn into a nice small tree. Flowers are not the biggest i've seen for the genus but still beautiful.